A/N: See? I did update soon. I'm surprised, myself. Best chapters yet to come.
After her pointed statement, Things between Alberta and Riven had gotten silent, and the two were just sitting there, uncomfortably. She had thought many times of just pushing off, but she had begun to eat the chips, and she hadn't been able to stop. Besides, she told herself, Riven hasn't left, and that means that I might just have a chance. Why hadn't he, anyway?
Riven didn't want to go back to his empty dorm room. He didn't much like Alberta, but she was a lot better than thinking of Musa and Jared, and what they were doing god knows where. It had been a long time, but the after party had continued well into the night, it was almost eleven o'clock, though the wedding had begun in the morning.
The other couples had loitered off. Stella, he knew was throwing up somewhere, he had seen Brandon carry her off on his shoulders, Timmy and Techna had gone home for a 'quiet' evening, Flora had been climbing a tree the last time he had seen her, and Bloom and Sky were wrapped up in each others' arms on the dance floor with a handful of other distinguished guests invited for the 'after party'.
Alberta yawned and took another chip.
"Nauseating, aren't they?," she said, noticing him looking in the couple's direction.
Riven shot her a grateful glance. Sky's puke-worthiness was something he could go on talking about for hours.
"You know them?" he asked, surprised. He had expected her to be related to someone like Stella, not Bloom or Sky.
"Yeah," she agreed tiredly, "I know the bloke, he's my cousin.." She said the last word with revulsion, and Riven caught on.
It was almost an hour before he had extracted useful details about Sky. He grinned at how embarrassing they were, almost embarrassing enough to blackmail him out of his whole kingdom. He wouldn't do it, of course, but it was good to know for a rainy day.
Riven laughed as the prince, himself approached their table, with Bloom on his arm.
"'lo, brother," said Alberta, in her sing-song voice, "I've just been telling Riven here all about how you used to water your potted plant with your-er-'hose'."
Sky visibly stiffened. Bloom suppressed a smile at the image that popped into her mind.
"Well, then, has he told you about how he treated his ex girlfriend when they were dating," shot back Sky.
Riven's eyes burnt holes into the badly-dressed prince's . "She's also told me how you used to practice your 'artwork' on the servant girl's bum!" he shot back.
Bloom squealed. "Enough guys!" said Alberta.
Sky's face was closed to Riven's, their noses almost touching.
"w-Well," he said through clenched teeth, "Do you know that his girlfriend's already going at it with someone else, while he's sitting here, listening to you?"
Riven's mind sifted through his newly acquired knowledge and yelled, "His nipples are uneven, and differently coloured, too!"
Prince Sky had a triumphant twinkle in his eye, as he delivered his final blow, "he cries at night after he's had a scary nightmare."
Riven felt his jaw would break any minute with how hard he was clenching it shut. He heard Bloom gasp.
"Sky! I told you never To…" she was saying.
But a sudden sense of unease swept over them, as they saw a large number of people rushing towards the entrance, some screaming.
As if calling a truce, they silently moved towards the crowds' direction.
Then they saw it. A form lay on the ground, two horses standing beside it. It was hard to find out anymore in the dark, but Riven thought he saw thick black hair billowing about her. Could it be Layla? But how could it be? She and Nabu…
He heard a gasp from Bloom, as she screamed. She had transformed into her Winx self and flown towards the crowd, pushing them aside.
The rest of them began to run towards the crowd.
"I think it's Layla," said the Prince, breathing heavily as they approached the onlookers. Riven spotted someone untying a large…bundle? from one of the horses.
People were now sobbing, and Riven realized with a horrible start that it was his friend's body. Dead body, a voice inside him corrected, as it made sense of the headlessness of it. He saw someone in the crowd cradling something round, with wispy strands billowing about it. Nabu's mother, he realized, with Nabu's… head. He felt sick.
He saw Layla, caked with blood, and a man—her, his—father, Jarell lift her up and walk towards the palace walls, passing them. Riven caught a glimpse of his sister—dark ringlets stiff with blood, eyes wide, speaking garbled. The crowd parted to give them way. As her large eyes caught Riven's, however, Layla's eyes showed signs of recognition, and became frantic.
"Riven!" she said, slowly and with some difficulty. Her father stopped short, turning and eyeing the specialist with suspicion.
Riven took a step forward, eyes locked with Layla's. Her father had continued walking, but Riven followed them, his eyes searching his half-sibling's in the dim light. She was slunk over Jarell's shoulders, stomach-down, face sticking up from her father's back.
"Musa…in danger, " she mumbled, weakly. "Nabu dead…dead because of Jar-Ja—," not being able to complete her sentence, she slumped back, defeated and almost unconscious, knowing Riven would understand.
Riven took just one more step towards her, then seizing the complete meaning, turned, stumbled and took off towards the direction of Alfea, where he prayed Musa would be.
A/N: Review if you've got an opinion